Winza

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Everytime you make a choice, you have tradeoffs and therefore choices are bad

I think too much. There are too much words floating in my head and I tend to worry about things that are too far beyond my control. Questions keep popping out from my head and these questions that lead to other questions, like a chain reaction. I find that my anxiety often stems from questions that I think too much about. In searching for answers, I decided to join a buddhist study group in Elsternwick. It is a religious group based on the teachings of Nichiren, a Japanese buddhist from the thirteenth century. This is a complete different religion in that there is no God or Buddha for people to worship on and one of their beliefs is that although we have many challenges, it is still possible to accept it and deal with it in a positive manner. I like this belief because that means that cannot escape from reality and we can also learn how to viewour problems in a philosophical way. However there are also things that I don’t believe in. Chanting for example. I don’t understand how Nichiren Buddhists chant prayers and it would give them faith and hope. And I don’t get the mirror thing. Maybe I am not religious enough. Wherever this discussion group leads me, I have no intention of converting. I am going just to learn, not to chant and not to force myself to believe in something that I disagree with.

My brother sent me the lyrics to the national anthem which I didn’t know what it was when I first got it. As soon as my dad read out the first few words in Cantonese, I immediately knew that it was the national anthem.

全體澳洲人，讓我們快樂吧！
因為我們年輕而自由；
我們有金色的土地和勞動可以創造的財富；
我們的國土為海洋所環繞；
我們的土地富於自然的恩賜，
美麗、富饒而稀有；
讓歷史的每一個時期
推動美麗的澳洲前進。
讓我們快樂地歌唱，
《前進，美麗的澳洲》。
在南十字星座燦爛的星光下，
我們用自己的心和雙手辛勤地勞作，
為了將我們的聯邦
建設得舉世聞名；
對那些遠涉重洋到來的人們
我們有無盡的土地來分享；
鼓起勇氣，讓我們一起
推動美麗的澳洲前進。
讓我們快樂地歌唱，
《前進，美麗的澳洲》！

One of my uni friends sent me a journal article about whistleblowing in the nursing industry and how it explores the moral dilemmas and the consequences of whistleblowing in the profession. It is an interesting article in that it doesn’t only apply to the health industry; it also applies in other industries as well. After reading the article, I imagined myself witnessing misconduct in the workplace such as someone I know stealing confidential data from a company. I posed a question and asked myself: What would I do if I see someone breaching codes of conduct at work? The right thing to do would be to confront the person involved and right the wrong. But what if that doesn’t work? Do I report to authority and voice my concerns? or do I keep silent and keep it to myself? Both options can have serious consequences that can cause damage to all stakeholders involved. Which one would I choose? There is no right or wrong to this - in fact, it is in the grey area. No matter what option I go along with, I would have take care in expressing my concern to others to avoid any conflict. The article also suggests to have a separate entity to guide whistleblowers and to deal with conflict between different parties involved. But will that resolve the problem? Will it encourage people to report misconduct?

So you see, when I learn new and interesting things, I become more curious, and then I ask myself many many other questions. Often, one question leads to the next. This is why I can’t sleep sometimes - I think too much.

I was invited to attend a meeting for the first time, where different teams made their own presentations on various on-going projects. I didn’t think I would be attending one, since I am just a short term contractor, but my team leader asked me if I wanted to go and I took the opportunity at that instant. The meeting wasn’t what I thought it would be - it was more like a discussion group kind of thing, like a seminar. I got to learn what other teams were doing and how different people from different teams come together and communicate issues and ideas. I was fascinated with the implementation of the third pipe system in the one of the new Estate communities and how different coloured pipes will represent different water supplies. I also learnt about the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition), a system for communicating information to and from various sites in the water system. I was pleased that I could attend because I learnt so much from the meeting. It’s funny how I have finished my studies and yet I am still learning new things. There are heaps of new acronyms at work that I need to get used to - especially when I need to deal with different assets of sewage and water systems.